The Piltdown Hoax

The Piltdown Hoax was based on an archeological site in England during the early 1900s where archeologist Charles Dawson claimed he discovered parts of a human, ape and other mammal fossils. Together he and a group of experts including English geologist Arthur Smith Woodward, French paleontologist Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and English anatomist Arthur Keith discovered what would be recognized as the Piltdown Man. Supposedly, all those parts that were found had belonged to a single human being, however it wasn't until about 50 years later that the Piltdown man was found to be nothing but a false discovery, hence the new given name, the Piltdown Hoax.

All humans have faults, it is in our nature, purposely or accidental. Self interest, fame and dishonesty were some faults found in this situation. Dawson wanted so badly to be notoriously recognized for his discovery and to be accepted by the scientific community that he went to great lengths to create this false finding. Although he had some good intentions, like having some discoveries his country could take pride in, it was not the right way to go about accomplishing them.

The Piltdown Hoax would've never been brought to light had it not been for new scientific technologies like fluorine testing and microscopes. This helped scientists greatly in finding a correct timeline for the fossils.

I don't think its possible to completely remove human factors from science because we'd still need human input to help determine things that a computer cannot. Machines don't have the passion or drive to affect there work and that is what makes for a great discovery.

The lesson learned here is to never believe every single thing you hear, even if there is supposed evidence. Anything can be fabricated or planted. We will never really know what is fake or what is real. The only reliable source that can help verify a claim is scientific proof and even that can sometimes be doubted. One must always have a solid argument to back up their claims.